Email Marketing vs. Direct Mail – Which One Can Help You Gain More Customers?

Trying to decide whether to invest in email or direct mail marketing? Here’s a look at the benefits and drawbacks of based on cost, time, convenience, their potential to gain customers, customer safety, and reception. Many marketers struggle when it comes to choosing a strategy. Some tactics are overrated; others have potential but people ignore them because they’re too complex. Regardless, it is important to choose and make the most of what you have available. Both email marketing and direct mail have potential. Which of these two would you like to try out first?

Cost-efficiency

The greatest strength of email is its cost-efficiency. In fact, you can start a mailing list without spending anything. Direct mail marketing, on the other hand, entails expenses from the creation of the materials to postage and if you’re not targeting the correct audience, that’s money down the drain.

Time management with direct mail or email marketing?

Building a mailing list for both email and direct mail campaigns takes time but more time is needed when you choose the direct mail route because apart from the time you will need to gather and improve your mailing list, you’ll also need time to come up with and create eye-catching and interesting marketing materials. However, investing your time, money, and effort in this endeavor has the potential of big returns.

Convenience

When it comes to convenience, email marketing has the advantage over direct marketing because adding links to your website and to specific products and services makes it easy for customers to access the information that interests them in just one or two clicks.

Gaining customers

While email provides plenty of marketing benefits, direct mail is more effective when it comes to gaining new customers. Studies by Direct Marketing Association and Epsilon have shown that direct mail doesn’t only generate more new customers but that it is also what half of the customers prefer since many of them consider direct mail more personal than an email. Furthermore, a USPS study found that more than 60% of direct mail recipients visited the promoted website, with the biggest influence on first-time customers.

Customer safety

The growing threat and incidents of spam, viruses, and identity theft is what is stopping more and more people from responding to, and even just opening, a promotional email whether it is legitimate or not. Direct mail is the safer option as the recipient can visit the website if and when he or she so chooses and without the need for clicking links that could have potentially dangerous consequences.

Customer reception

Although email is now part of everyday life, many people are still not using email. More to the point, many people don’t open a majority of the emails sent to them. In this case, direct marketing has the edge as people are more likely to open their mail, especially if the envelope or postcard looks interesting enough. One thing to remember when sending a direct mail, however, is to make your letter stand out from the rest of poorly-designed ones that usually get tossed in the trash.

So, which one should you use for your business?

There is no rule that you should stick with only one approach. In fact, successful marketing campaigns call for both direct mail and email. For instance, one way to improve your email response rate is to send the email recipient a postcard or letter informing him or her to expect a special email offer that you will be sending soon. The email, sent within a week, has a greater chance of being opened.

Enjoy the benefits of both direct mail and email by using them in your marketing campaign to improve your chances of growing your sales as well as your business. Things have changed a lot over the years, and gaining customers and visitors with the help of web is challenging. That’s because people are terrified by spam messages and persuasive marketing campaigns. With the help of a direct mail company, you can make your strategies work. Let professional do the heavy lifting, and be ready for your business to thrive with techniques that are proven to render results.

About US

WANEntrepreneur -The Business Journal is a multi-author magazine blog with main focus on entrepreneurship. The blog is dedicated to providing entrepreneurs with quality resources to grow their businesses.